George M. Steinbrenner Field, Spring Training site for the New York Yankees in Tampa, Florida, Thursday, March 8, 2012.

I was in Florida all of March, with the intent of shooting Spring Training. Unfortunately, I never got a Spring Training assignment. hurrumph. Maybe next year. But I kinda expected that to happen. That’s not to say I wasn’t busy with work. Don’t worry. I made some money while I was down there. But, rather than twiddle my thumbs waiting for a phone call, I just went to Steinbrenner Field. Nobody was playing, which was fine. I really just wanted to explore the field and see what I could come back with.

Rather than just show what this stadium and its facilities look like, I tried photographing it’s character.

Allen Born and his 10-year-old son Caleb Born, from Sacramento, California,  take pictures of the Yankees Spring Training Stadium in Tampa, Florida Thursday, March 8, 2012 for a school project. Rather than miss school, Caleb is conducting a school-sanctioned independent study. Caleb is a Giants fan saw them during Spring Training last year in the Cactus League in Arizona, but Allen is a “die hard” Detroit Tigers fan. Neither are big Yankees fans, but Caleb’s teacher is.

Brooklyn-based Author Elizabeth Cline is writing a socio-economic book about fashion, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Price of Cheap Fashion. From what she tells me, it’s kinda like Fast Food Nation, but for H&M, Target, & Old Navy.

She was a great subject. We even played with swords. My friend Nick came over with some swords and a mask & we had a pretty rockin’ good time. See, Elizabeth isn’t just a beautiful and talented writer. She’s also the guitar player & singer in Mortals, an all female metal band.

So… the rest of these photos kinda make sense. 

For more photos of Elizabeth, check out this Photoshelter gallery.

For more photos of Elizabeth and Nick in a fight to the death, go to this gallery.

And if you wanna see some dark photos of Nick, BLAM!

Over the holidays, I went on a road trip with Mom, her husband, Rick, and Grandmommy from Atlanta down to — get this — Treasure Island, Florida! Yup. Such a place exists. And no. it’s not an amusement park. ha! Can you imagine Grandmommy at an amusement park? hahaha! …we did get her on a Segway, though. But that’s for a later post.

The photos on this post are a bit quieter. Aside from Treasure Island, we went to DeSoto, Anna Maria Island, Bradenton, St. Petersburg, and a few other places.

It didn’t take too long for me to understand I react the same way to photographs.

And as you know, light controls most of the mood of a photo. Sure, so does body language, but when the two meet…

So, these are test shots. I was working on super controlled, film noirish lighting. Like the first Scary Self Portrait post I wanted the eyes to go entirely black, with the exception of two small, piercing, catch lights, made, this time, with an underpowered, tightly gridded monolight. The key light in the above photo is pointed down, off my right shoulder.This picture only uses one gridded mono light, positioned directly underneath my camera & pointed up. The grid is so tight & focused none of the shadow hits the wall.This one is the combination of the two. and as a bonus, here’s me in a luchador mask.

This shoot was a lotta fun and it went exactly how I like em’ to go… a little crazy near the end.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that recently I’ve been lighting almost exclusively with, what I’m calling, my big dumb light — a Paul C. Buff Einstein 640, modified with an 86″ PLM. It’s a cumbersome thing, but MAN! does it throw a ton of nice light around.

I also designed their post card.…not too bad for a button-pusher, huh?

Marriotts Ridge center midfielder Alex Price led the Mustangs to a 13-3-3 record and the girls soccer team’s first county championship.

Here’s the corresponding Howard County Time Article.

I couldn’t have asked for a better sky that day. …the temperature could’ve been better, though. If I remember correctly, it was hovering around 20-ish degrees, plus wind.

The Marriotts Ridge baseball field was going under some renovation, so rather than take Alex to the stadium (where all those gross white banners live in the background) I put her on top of the mound closest to the backstop.

…that way when she kicked the ball it didn’t go too far.

For all you gear heads out there, I used two Alien Bee 1600′s, both unmodified, at max power, powered by the vagabond II (love that thing) flanking her at the 9 o’clock and 4 o’clock position. I also used an sb-800, on the right, to light the ball.

Same Set up, sans the sb-800.

Jess

Wilde Lake sophomore golfer Tyler Silberberg tied for 11th in the state and is the boys golfer of the year. He is photographed at Hobbits Glen Tuesday, November 30, 2010.

Here‘s Brent Kennedy’s season wrap up.

In case you’re curious, there are two more photos after the jump.

(photo by Matt Roth)

Laurel resident Gabrielle Galvez, with Baltimore Fencing Center of Columbia, won a bronze in the Division 3 Woman’s Epee at the US Fencing Association’s Summer National Championships in Atlanta, GA. Galvez is photographed at BFC Friday, August 20, 2010.

This was a really cool shoot for Howard Magazine. It was a bit challenging, too.

For those who’ve photographed fencers with lights before, they know how super hard it is to show their faces behind all that protective mesh. After a ton of chimping and head-scratching, I eventually figured it out.

Here are some tips. use a shallow-ish DOF. This was shot at f/4.5. Granted, it’s not super shallow, but it’s not f/11. The more closed down, the more defined the mesh and the less face we’ll see. And here’s the kicker, light from the sides!  Utilize modifiers, like umbrellas and parabolics, that are better at wrapping light. …otherwise the strobes will light the metal in front of their faces. make sense? If not, feel free to ask in the comments section below. thanks for checking out the photos!